In an era when "knowing thy customer" is seen as the
path to riches, it's hard to resist collecting the vast stores
of customer data that tumble into your lap when you create a Web
site. Know where a visitor has been before-what sites he or she has
visited earlier in the same Inter-net session, for instance-and an
alert marketer can use that insight into the surfer's interests
to tweak the site's offerings so they more closely match what
the surfer wants.
For dotcom entrepreneurs, that means don't screw up, and
you'll gain visitors' trust. And once they trust you, they
will buy from you.
Bowled Over
Turned on by pink, retro bowling shirts? How about bowling
jackets and T-shirts? In 1998, Tucson, Arizona, entrepreneur Gary
Forrester, 47, thought there were enough bowling fanatics out there
to make a success of Bowling Connection, where almost everything a
bowler craves is on sale. So far, he's been proved right.
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Entrepreneur: How do you promote the site?
Gary Forrester: There's a helpful site called
Selfpromotion.com that makes it easy to list your site
with all the search engines. We also promoted Bowling Connection by
passing out fliers at bowling tournaments.
Another way we promote on an ongoing basis is by putting items
up for auction on eBay. It's not only another source of income,
it also drives people right to your Web site to order more of your
products. And it's only 25 cents to list each item. This has
probably been the most cost-effective advertising I've ever
seen.
Super Mom
It's amazing, the opportunities that still exist on the Web.
Ask Maria Bailey, 36. A onetime marketing executive with AutoNation
USA, she launched BlueSuitMom.com in Pompano Beach, Florida, on
Mother's Day 2000 with the aim of meeting the needs of
executive working moms. Her take on the Net was that there were
sites geared for working moms in general but none aimed
specifically at executives who also happen to be moms. So she
decided to build one. BlueSuitMom.com offers opportunities for
networking, news geared for executive moms and tips on topics such
as time management.
Entrepreneur: How do you promote the business?
Maria Bailey: We promote our business mainly by creating
strategic partnerships. For instance, we have a partnership with
Stork Avenue, the largest retailer of birth announcements. They
were willing to put our logo on 15 million catalogs in exchange for
driving traffic to their site. We also rely on the strong
word-of-mouth network moms and businesswomen create, and networking
within women's professional organizations, human resources
departments and parenting organizations. In addition, we sponsor
events such as parenting conferences, and distribute our content to
other Web sites to build brand recognition. We've been very
lucky in creating great press.
What unique advantages do you have vis-à-vis other Web
sites?
We felt the best advantage we could have was to be the first to
market-and we were. Being the first site aimed at executive working
mothers has allowed us to create all the great press we've
received.
What's been your biggest surprise in building this
business and your biggest disappointment?
The biggest surprise has been how quickly the site and idea have
grown. The response we've gotten from other Internet companies,
offline retailers, marketers and associations has been
overwhelming. We can't keep up with the people who want to do
business with us.
The biggest disappointment, or the biggest surprise I didn't
anticipate, was I never thought raising money would take so much
time out of each day. It's a constant "chicken or the
egg" game when you're juggling raising money, hiring good
talent and getting the product to market.
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